The history of the Vietnam War begins long before the United States became embroiled in the conflict during the 1960s. The roots of the war go back more than two thousand years, when the Chinese conquered and ruled parts of Vietnam. The Vietnamese were continually at war (militarily as well as culturally) with China in an attempt to preserve their national identity. Then in the 1800s the French colonized Vietnam. Vietnamese partisans appeared and organized a nationalist movement, but France maintained its rule. In 1940, Japan swept into Vietnam, crushing the French, and the Vietnamese had another enemy in their battle for independence.

In 1941, Ho Chi Minh (meaning "He Who Enlightens"), a Vietnamese nationalist who had studied in France and Russia, organized a group to resist the Japanese. He formed the Communist-inspired Vietnam Independence League—Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh—whose followers became known as...